A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT By Christopher T. Baer 1844

June 2015 Edition All data subject to correction and change

Jan. 1, 1844 Exclusive passenger contract on Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad expires

and it reverts to being a public highway. (CC) Jan. 1, 1844 The charters of two more Ohio banks, the Bank of Geauga and the

Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, expire leaving only eight banks in operation in the state, the Bank of Xenia, the Bank of Sandusky, the Bank of Wooster, the Bank of Norwalk, the Lafayette Bank of Cincinnati, the Clinton Bank of Columbus, the Bank of Circleville and the Bank of Massillon. (Huntington)

Jan. 2, 1844 LIRR Board orders the company to apply for a franchise from the City of

Brooklyn for a tunnel in the lower end of Atlantic Avenue to ease the grade up from the South Ferry Terminal. (MB)

Jan. 2, 1844 Seat of Moultrie County, Illinois, changed from the house of James Canfield

to East Nelson. (Long) Jan. 1844 In his annual message, N.Y. Gov. Horatio Seymour recommends applying any

surplus income from the canals to continuing the Erie Canal enlargement and the Black River and Genesee Valley Canals, rather than using the entire sum to pay down the state debt; large disconnected sections of the Erie improvement are sitting useless and decaying. (Shaw)

Jan. 3, 1844 In his annual message, Pa. Gov. David R. Porter reports that the state debt is

now $39,084,000. (PaArch) Jan. 4, 1844 Gov. David R. Porter vetoes bill for revising charges for state boat trucks by

charging wheel-tolls, same as for railroad cars; current system discriminates against those who ship in regular railroad cars (i.e, the old transporting companies who had been pushing for the bill since the summer of 43). (PaArch - check papers - attempt was made to override)

Jan. 4, 1844 Gov. David R. Porter vetoes a Senate resolution of last session reducing the

toll on the outlet lock at Columbia but only for boats navigating the Pennsylvania state canals. (PaArch)

Jan. 4, 1844 Brazil, Ind., platted by Owen Thorpe; located on the National Road.

(Blanchard) Jan. 6, 1844 Portsmouth & Roanoke Railroad abandoned south of Branchville, Va., cutting

rail service between Hampton Roads (Portsmouth) and the South via Weldon, N.C.; the Baltimore Steam Packet Company (“Old Bay Line”), the main connection of the P&R, is obliged to run its boats to Petersburg to connect with the Petersburg Railroad. (Cnls&RRs, Brown)

Jan. 9, 1844 First elected Board of Canal Commissioners convenes; by lot, Jesse Miller is

to serve one year, James Clarke two years, and William B. Foster, Jr., three years; James Clarke is Pres. (CC)

Jan. 11, 1844 New Jersey Railroad protests the Camden & Amboy Railroad discontinuing

the Sunday morning line. (MB) Jan. 13, 1844 Ohio act declares that the Cincinnati & Whitewater Canal, which has been

delayed in opening because of a breach in the tunnel, has been completed within the time required by law. (PL)

Jan. 13, 1844 Indiana act reduces tolls on the New Albany & Vincennes Road. (PL) Jan. 13, 1844 Indiana declares the Mississinewa River to be a public highway from the

Wabash River up to Range No. 15 East. (PL) Jan. 15, 1844 Residents petition Brooklyn City Council to remove the tracks of the Brooklyn

& Jamaica Railroad from lower Atlantic Avenue and place them in a tunnel. (BrklnEgle)

Jan. 15, 1844 New Board of Canal Commissioners restores John Snodgrass to his post as

Superintendent of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. (CC) Jan. 15, 1844 Rushville & Shelbyville Railroad Company incorporated in Indiana to

continue the lateral branch of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad to Rushville. (PL, Church)

Jan. 15, 1844 Richardsville County, Indiana, created from non-county area; not fully

organized; Tipton County created from part of Adams New Purchase and non-county area; not fully organized. (Long)

Jan. 15, 1844 South Bend, Ind., incorporated as a town. (PL)

Jan. 15, 1844 University of Notre Dame du Lac incorporated at South Bend, Ind. (PL) Jan. 1844 Canal Commissioners appoint George Potts Weighmaster at Hollidaysburg,

replacing John Dougherty, removed. (Africa) Jan. 16, 1844 Camden & Amboy Railroad assents to the New Jersey Railroad’s request to

eliminate the Sunday morning through train, but the Post Office Dept. does not, demanding that the mail run daily. (MB)

Jan. 19, 1844 Act provides for restoration of Pittsburgh Aqueduct to be paid for by City of

Pittsburgh through a special toll of $1.50 per boat charged for one year. (PL) Jan. 25, 1844 Edward F. Gay appointed Superintendent of Motive Power of Philadelphia &

Columbia Railroad, replacing Joel Barlow Moorhead; Gay urges buying more modern locomotives; also urges the Canal Commissioners to conduct the passenger business themselves, as this is the main source of profits. (CC)

Jan. 25, 1844 Central Railroad of Michigan opens between Jackson and Albion, Mich.

(Durant) Jan. 26, 1844 Public meeting in Brooklyn of property owners opposed to both the tunnel and

the operation of steam locomotives west of Parmentier’s Garden as the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad promised it would do when the property owners consented to widening the street. (BrklnEgle)

Feb. 1, 1844 Pennsylvania makes fourth interest payment in scrip; interest rate reduced

from 6% to 5%. (Worthington) Feb. 1, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad opens between Elizabethtown and Clifty,

Ind., using strap rail. (AR, Sulzer) Feb. 5, 1844 Diarist Philip Hone reports business reviving in New York; Customs House

receipts for January are at $1,876,000; new speculations in cotton. (Hone) Feb. 6, 1844 D. Miller and T. Collins & Co. begin operating the Phoenix Line of passenger

cars on the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad to Columbia as an opposition line with connections to Harrisburg and York; the cars have the floors plated with iron to guard against rail accidents and are painted “true blue” with red and gold striping; the PRR will eventually buy out the Phoenix Line. (PubLdgr)

Feb. 7, 1844 Troy & Greenbush Railroad Association leases the unfinished grading

between Greenbush and Troy from the New York & Albany Railroad. (NYSenDoc no. 86 1845)

Feb. 13, 1844 PW&B Board authorizes season (commuter) tickets between Philadelphia and Wilmington. (MB)

Feb. 13, 1844 Ohio act repeals act of 1843 requiring Little Miami Railroad and Mad River &

Lake Erie Railroad to pay 6% interest due on state bonds in company stock and orders return of any shares deposited with state auditor. (Church, Smiths)

Feb. 14, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board fixes the commuter fare at $65 per year from all

points; resolves that it is desirable to purchase and merge the Elizabethtown & Somerville Railroad, which is in financial difficulties, and arrange with the Elizabethport & New York Ferry Company to end rate competition between New York and Elizabeth; new locomotive is to be named Phoenix. (MB)

Feb. 15, 1844 Ohio act revives and extends the charter of the Little Miami Railroad. (C&C) Feb. 1844 B&O signs traffic contract with Maryland & New York Iron & Coal Company

of Mount Savage for first large-scale coal shipments, to start Nov. 1, 1844; the coal company is to proceed with building a railroad between Cumberland and the mines. (Dilts, AR)

Feb. 1844 First anthracite coal breaker to the design of Joseph F. Battin built at the Wolf

Creek Colliery of Gideon Bast ( - ) near Minersville; by 1845, there are 57 breakers in use; the breaker facilitates the creation and marketing of the desirable medium sizes favored for domestic heating, but at the cost of much waste in the form of pulverized coal called “culm”; the culm is simply dumped in huge piles near the breakers until technologies are devised to burn it in locomotives and under large boilers, after which some of the piles are recycled. (USRR&MR, Munsell/Sch)

Feb. 1844 Scrantons & Grant complete their rolling mill and nail works. (Munsell/Lack) Feb. 18, 1844 Subscription committee of Madison & Indianapolis Railroad issues circular

stating that plan of raising money by voluntary subscriptions has failed and proposing a Madison County subscription funded by a 1% tax on property for three years. (Daniels)

Feb. 20, 1844 Charles Davis, George Griswold (1777-1859), Elihu Townsend (1786-1853)

and Jacob Little (1797-1865) elected directors of LIRR, forcing out a number of the original directors, including Valentine Hicks, Silas Carles and Isaac E. Haviland. (MB)

Feb. 20, 1844 Maryland act authorizes Maryland Mining Company to connect with the B&O

near Cumberland. (PL) Feb. 23, 1844 Baltimore & Philadelphia Steam Boat Company (Ericsson Line) incorporated

in Md. by John S. Shriver of Baltimore for the purpose of operating special

narrow propeller steamboats through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal; the company is controlled by the Shriver family and the Cadwalader family of Philadelphia; the earliest boats have limited passenger accommodations. (Blandi, Burgess)

Feb. 23, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Board authorizes a loan from the State Bank

of Indiana to buy a locomotive for Madison Hill; authorizes employing a different engineer at $3 a day, to be paid when he actually is working; declares an 8% dividend. (MB)

Feb. 24, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad grants Chief Engineer Thomas A. Morris a

wage of $3 a day and rescind yesterday’s resolution for hiring a new engineer; adopts a new tariff with a $1.50 fare between Madison and Columbus. (MB)

Feb. 26, 1844 Ohio authorizes City of Cincinnati to loan $100,000 in city bonds to Little

Miami Railroad; money permits company to contract for extension to Xenia. (PL, Church)

Feb. 27, 1844 Banker Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844) dies at his country estate "Anadalusia" of

heart disease at age 58. (DAB, Wood) Feb. 28, 1844 The large cannon Peacemaker on the new steam screw frigate U.S.S.

Princeton, the Navy’s first screw propeller warship, explodes during a demonstration on the Potomac, killing 9, including Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur (1790-1844) and Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gilmer (1802-1844); Pres. Tyler is below decks and escapes injury; the ship has been sponsored by Commodore Robert F. Stockton with machinery by John Ericsson, and the cannon was manufactured by Hogg & Delamater to Stockton’s design; Ericsson had designed a companion gun, the Orator by reinforcing the breech with hot wrought-iron hoops during manufacture, so that it can take larger charges and has greater throw weight; Stockton copied the shape, but not the principle, so the Peacemaker is as weak as an ordinary gun; the explosion kills Stockton’s project to modernize the Navy. (EAH, FisherDiary, wiki)

Mar. 1, 1844 New Jersey Railroad leases its pier at Liberty Street, N.Y., to George L.

Schuyler for one year; the NJRR uses half the pier for freight. (MB) Mar. 1, 1844 Cornelius Vanderbilt elected a director and Treasurer of the Elizabethport &

New York Ferry Company, of which he had purchased control the previous fall. (Stiles/MB)

Mar. 1, 1844 Ohio act authorizes Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad to borrow $400,000

(Smiths) Mar. 1, 1844 Former Massachusetts Gov. John Davis ( - ) and Capt. William H. Swift report

on their investigation of the Illinois & Michigan Canal; recommend accepting the new loan. (Putnam)

Mar. 4, 1844 Pennsylvania Democrats nominate Improvement Democrat Henry A.

Muhlenberg for Gov.; Francis R. Shunk agrees to step aside in the interest of party unity. (Klein, Bradley)

Mar. 5, 1844 Jacob Strader (1795-1860) elected Treasurer of Little Miami Railroad,

replacing William H. Clement; Strader is founder of the Cincinnati & Louisville Packet Line, Pres. of the Commercial Bank and proprietor of a cotton factory. (MB, Black)

Mar. 6, 1844 Future Norfolk & Western Railway Pres. Frederick James Kimball (1844-

1903) born. (ancestry.com) Mar. 6, 1844 Pres. John Tyler appoints John C. Calhoun Secretary of State, replacing Abel

P. Upshur, killed on the U.S.S. Princeton, indicating his intention to run at the head of a coalition of dissident Democrats. (WwasW)

Mar. 6, 1844 Ohio joint legislative resolution calls for completion of the Walhonding Canal

to Mount Vernon. (PL) Mar. 7, 1844 Barrellville Mining Company incorporated in Maryland by Stephen B. Barrell,

William Ridgely and John Pickell with a capital of $500,000 to $1 million to hold up to 5,000 acres in the Cumberland Coal Field near the Pennsylvania state line. (PL)

Mar. 10, 1844 Maryland passes act waiving its prior liens on C&O Canal and authorizing

new preferred bond issue of $1.7 million for completion of canal to Cumberland. (Ward)

Mar. 12, 1844 Canal Commissioners authorize first "drawback" (rebate) of 1 mill per ton-

mile on anthracite coal arriving at Bristol or Columbia. (CC) Mar. 12, 1844 PW&B cuts fare between Baltimore and Havre-de-Grace to $1.00. (MB) Mar. 12, 1844 Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company incorporated in Ohio. (Church) Mar. 12, 1844 Providence & Worcester Railroad incorporated in Mass. (NHCorp) Mar. 12, 1844 Soft Money Ohio Democrats join with Whigs to pass an act extending the

charters of the Bank of Norwalk, the Bank of Sandusky, the Bank of Xenia, the Lafayette Bank of Cincinnati and the Bank of Wooster, and exempting them from the Bank Acts for three years. (PL, Shade)

Mar. 12, 1844 Ohio joint legislative resolution bars any new state contracts for public works.

(PL) Mar. 12, 1844 Ohio joint resolution protests the New York State ban on the Utica &

Schenectady Railroad carrying freight; notes that traffic for the Erie Canal backs up at Buffalo before each spring opening and need the additional outlet of the Buffalo-Albany railroad. (PL)

Mar. 13, 1844 Camden County, N.J., created from the northern part of Gloucester County

with county seat at Camden. (Long) Mar. 14, 1844 Fall River Branch Railroad incorporated in Mass. to build from Fall River to

Myricks on the New Bedford & Taunton Railroad or to Taunton. (NHCorp) Mar. 1844 Second Roebling wire rope installed on Plane No. 10 of Portage Railroad;

difficulty in securing hemp splice ropes to wire ropes; John Tittle (1801-1882), pattern maker at Johnstown Shop and brother-in-law of Superintendent John Snodgrass, invents the "iron stop" to prevent slipping of the old style car hitch that had been used with hemp ropes. (CC)

Mar. 1844 Bill sponsored by Augustus L. Roumfort to provide for the payment of the

interest on the Pennsylvania state debt defeated in the Legislature. (FisherDiary - verify PubLdgr)

Mar. 1844 Little Miami Railroad Board authorizes buying a new depot site in Cincinnati

and selling old site for building lots. (MB) Mar.? 1844 N.Y. act, passed by a combination of conservative Democrats and Whigs and

endorsed by Gov. Horatio Seymour, provides for applying a portion of the surplus revenue of the canals to continuing the Erie Canal enlargement and the Black River and Genesee Valley Canals. (Shaw - verify PL)

Mar. 16, 1844 (Second) Old Colony Railroad incorporated in Mass. to build from Boston to

Plymouth. (NHCorp) Mar. 16, 1844 Stoughton Branch Railroad incorporated in Mass. to build a line from

Stoughton to the Boston & Providence Railroad. (NHCorp) Mar. 16, 1844 Massachusetts act authorizes the moribund Blackstone Canal Company to sell

any part of its right of way between Providence and Worcester for railroad purposes; it will be used by the Providence & Worcester Railroad. (PL)

Mar. 18, 1844 Boston capitalists Isaac C. Pray, Matthias P. Sawyer and Samuel May buy in

the bankrupt Great Western Iron Company and reorganize it as the Brady’s Bend Iron Company; over the course of the next 12 months they add two more blast furnaces and expand capacity to 8,500 tons per year. (Fell)

Mar. 19, 1844 Pennsylvania act appropriates $2,000 to repair two lowest dams and locks on Franklin Line to prevent obstruction of stream. (PL)

Mar. 19, 1844 Tonawanda Railroad authorized to connect with Auburn & Rochester Railroad

in Rochester to form an unbroken line between Albany/Troy and Buffalo; connection is completed later in the year; until then, the Tonawanda Railroad loads in the street; the connection will save an hour in transit time; the Tonawanda Railroad is also permitted to increase its capital to $750,000 to replace its worn-out track. (Stevens, ARJ, Cnls&RRs, Harlow)

Mar. 20, 1844 Future PRR General Manager Joseph Baldwin Hutchinson (1844-1934) born

at Bristol, Pa. (RyW) Mar. 21, 1844 LIRR Board authorizes negotiations with Cornelius Vanderbilt or other parties

for steamboats to Stonington, Norwich, Fall River or Newport; consider a morning line via Norwich and an evening line via Stonington, with boats to continue to Newport and Fall River, or to operate during summer to Norwich and Stonington on alternate days; the LIRR is at the mercy of the steamboat owners to get across Long Island Sound. (MB, diamond)

Mar. 21, 1844 Lewis Muhlenberg Haupt (1844-1937), future civil engineer and professor at

the University of Pennsylvania, born at Gettysburg; third son of future PRR engineer Herman Haupt and Ann Keller Haupt. (findagrave, Haupt)

Mar. 25, 1844 Morrisons, English bankers, accept Charles Henry Fisher’s offer to become a

director of the Reading at $1,000 a year. (FisherDiary) Mar. 27, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board considers a proposed arrangement with Cornelius

Vanderbilt and the Elizabethport & New York Ferry Company (?) to end rate competition. (MB)

Mar. 27, 1844 Chesapeake & Delaware Canal abrogates 1843 agreement with PW&B. (MB) Mar. 28, 1844 Accident on Madison Plane in Indiana; a wood car is allowed to descend

before the passenger car has reached the bottom; runs away smashing the passenger car, killing four and injuring 10 or 12. (AR, Daniels)

Mar. 29, 1844 LIRR Board authorizes another survey of Williamsburg Branch. (MB) Mar. 29, 1844 Brooklyn ordinance authorizes the LIRR to build a tunnel under the west end

of Atlantic Avenue between Boerum & Columbia Streets to avoid the steep grade at the end of the avenue; the surface track of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad is to be removed once the tunnel is opened; facilities for loading and unloading freight cars are to be removed from the street to private wharf property. (MB, NYState)

Mar. 30, 1844 Richard D. Wood notes that the price of Pennsylvania bonds has fallen 15% over the last few days. (Wood)

Apr. 1, 1844 Commonwealth of Pa. converts Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad from

public highway to common carrier; use of horses is outlawed between head of Belmont Plane and Columbia and all trains to be hauled by state locomotives. (CC)

Apr. 1, 1844 Northern Liberties & Penn Township Railroad leases operation of passenger

pleasure cars to John William Funk and James Ryninger for $800 per year; renewed through end of 1845. (MB)

Apr. 1, 1844 West Chester Railroad resumes operating own passenger service as contract

with Jones & Brooke expires. (Moore) Apr. 1, 1844 West Stockbridge Railroad opens between West Stockbridge and the New

York state line; operated by the Housatonic Railroad under lease of Feb. 6, 1844. (NHCorp)

Apr. 1, 1844 Ironmaster Benjamin Reeves (1779-1844) dies; the operation of the

Cumberland Nail Works at Bridgeton, N.J., is reorganized as Reeves, Buck & Co. with the surviving founder David Reeves (1793-1871), Robert S. Buck (1802-1877) and Robert C. Nichols (1814- ). (PhnxStlCorp, Cushing - also Phoenixville??)

Apr. 2, 1844 LIRR Board appoints committee to explore purchase of Brooklyn & Jamaica

Railroad. (MB) Apr. 2, 1844 Voters (largely Democrats) defeat the plan for a Madison County subscription

to Madison & Indianapolis Railroad. (Daniels) Apr. 3, 1844 Joint Companies Executive Committee agrees to run a morning line to New

York via boat to Bordentown and the New Jersey Railroad; orders Robert L. Stevens to prepare plans for an iron steamboat; names the new iron tug at New York the Amboy. (MB)

Apr. 8, 1844 Joint Board grants R. & A. Packer a rebate on coal of 15 cents per ton to keep

the business for the Delaware & Raritan Canal. (MB) Apr. 9, 1844 PW&B Board reports it has reestablished through tickets between Philadelphia

and Wheeling for $13.00, of which PW&B receives $2.50; arrange to have morning line leave Philadelphia by rail instead of boat and evening line via NC&F. (MB - NB for 4 months in 1843 were down to single trip, by end of yr op 2 r.t. year round - AR)

Apr. 11, 1844 New York & Erie Railroad appeals for private subscriptions, as New York

City has refused both a subscription and joining in a petition to the Legislature. (ARJ)

Apr. 15, 1844 Joint Companies sell the “Railroad Hotel” and the property on the hill at

Bordentown, acquired from the old Citizens Line, at public sale. (MB) Apr. 15, 1844 Wilson Shannon (1802-1877) resigns as Gov. of Ohio to be Pres. Tyler’s

Minister to Mexico; he is succeeded by Speaker of the Senate Thomas Welles Bartley (1812-1885), another anti-bank Democrat. (Sobel)

Apr. 17, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board votes to act on the threat of an opposition

steamboat line between New York and New Brunswick. (MB) Apr. 17, 1844 Little Miami Railroad Board chooses William H. Clement as Chief Engineer

over Robert M. Shoemaker. (MB) Apr. 18, 1844 Little Miami Railroad Board accepts recent Cincinnati act loaning railroad

$100,000 in return for lien on net earnings; orders location from Todds Fork (Morrow) to Greene County line and purchase of rail to complete to Todds Fork. (MB)

Apr. 22? 1844 Senate rejects the annexation of Texas, 35-16. (DeRose - verify) Apr. 23, 1844 Cincinnati passes ordinance authorizing $100,000 loan to Little Miami

Railroad. (Church) Apr. 24, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board approves a commutation ticket for students who

are minors at $15 per quarter. (MB) Apr. 25, 1844 Canal Commissioners authorize Gilman Converse to run his patented

steamboat between Columbia and Hollidaysburg; to pay toll on cargo only, not on boat. (CC)

Apr. 25, 1844 Stagecoach proprietor Lucius W. Stockton (1799-1844) dies at Uniontown,

Pa. (wikitree) Apr. 26, 1844 Pa. act authorizes Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad to lease right of way in

Market Street, Bristol, from Wood Street to Radclifffe Street and down Radcliffe to Delaware River. (Digest)

Apr. 27, 1844 Act passed for benefit of West Chester Railroad; may issue mortgage to pay

for rebuilding line with T-rail; company is not to pay tolls and motive power charges on freight over Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad above level set by Canal Commissioners effective Mar. 25, 1844; orders Canal Commissioners to use P&C locomotives to haul WCRR cars through to West Chester once WCRR relaid with T-rail or to carry their cars to an from West Chester

Intersection with charges no higher than those charged other transporting companies. (PL)

Apr. 27, 1844 Franklin Canal Company incorporated in Pa. to take over and repair the

defunct Franklin Line of Pennsylvania Canal; may replace the slackwater navigation with a canal; charter is later used to build railroads. (PL)

Apr. 28, 1844 Thieves steal $3,000 in specie being carried in PW&B baggage car by Sanford

& Shoemaker's Express. (MB) Apr. 29, 1844 Pennsylvania legislature authorizes new taxes on real estate, mortgages, and

individual debts, personal property, stocks, and incomes from trades and professions except farming to retire the state debt; raises about $1.5 million per year; also authorizes the sale of the Main Line for $20 million, purchasers to be incorporated as "Pennsylvania Canal & Railroad Company" whose stock is to be sold at public auction; also $60,644 in 6% notes to fund interest certificates; no bids on Main Line were received after 40 days, and this provision of the act expires; new taxes raise state revenue from $400,000 in 1843 to nearly $2 million in 1845. (PL, PaArch, Worthington)

May 1, 1844 Little Miami Railroad issues $100,000 "Cincinnati Loan" covered by

mortgage on whole road. (Church) May 1, 1844 The Morse telegraph line, completed to within 15 miles of Baltimore, is first

used to send word of the Whig nomination of Henry Clay for Pres. from Baltimore to the capital. (Thompson)

May 1, 1844 Richardsville County, Indiana, fully organized with county seat at Kokomo;

Tipton County fully organized with county seat at Canton. (Long) May 3, 1844 Nativist meeting in the heavily Irish district of Kensington is broken up by

Irish immigrants; leads to three months of nativist-Irish rioting and violence in which several Catholic churches and many other buildings are burned and many are killed before the militia can restore order.

May 4, 1844 Head-on collision of two trains on the PW&B 5 miles south of Havre-de-

Grace kills a passenger and a conductor; a meeting of passengers returning from the Whig National Convention in Baltimore chaired by Daniel Webster meets on the Susquehanna and censures the company. (Hone)

May 7, 1844 New York State permits Utica & Schenectady Railroad to carry freight, but

only when Erie Canal is closed and on payment to state of sum equal to canal toll; also imposes toll equal to that on canal on all through (but not local) freight carried on Syracuse & Utica, Auburn & Rochester, Tonawanda and Attica & Buffalo Railroads. (Stevens)

May 7, 1844 Nativists burn St. Michael’s Chapel in Kensington. (Wood) May 8, 1844 Nativists burn St. Augustine’s Church in Kensington; the need to rebuild

forces the temporary closing of the Augustinian College of Villa Nova, also run by the Augustinian Order, on Feb. 20, 1845. (Wood, villanova.edu)

May 10, 1844 Providence & Worcester Railroad incorporated in R.I. (NHCorp) May 13, 1844 Joint Companies Executive Committee grants coal shipper Morris Buckman a

toll to Newark and points 10 miles up the Hudson River equal to the rate to New England points. (MB)

May 14, 1844 PW&B reports purchase of plot of land for Wilmington car shed. (MB) May 15, 1844 PW&B Board authorizes sale of any part of 700 tons of iron recently imported

for company. (MB) May 1844 Baldwin completes 2-4-0 Edwin Post (c/n 193) for LIRR. (Lovell) May 1844 Omnibuses begin operating in Baltimore. (Vexler, Nixon) May 1844 After B&O refuses to cut Washington-Baltimore fare of $2.50, Richmond,

Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad subsidizes a stagecoach connection to the PW&B in Baltimore for about one year. (Mordecai)

May 21, 1844 Mississippi River flood crests at St. Louis, caused by heavy rains along

tributaries to the north and west. (Scharf) May 22, 1844 Future Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) born in Allegheny

City, Pa.; youngest daughter of Robert Simpson Cassatt (1806-1891) and Katharine Kelso Johnston Cassatt (1816-1895) and sister of future PRR Pres. A.J. Cassatt. (PaHrtg, Mathews)

May 23, 1844 On his 60th birthday, George Weems makes over the family estate at Marshes

Seat, the steamboat Patuxent and all the slaves employed on it to his sons Mason L. Weems (1814-1874), Gustavus Weems (1816-1859), Theodore Weems (1818-1871), and George W. Weems (1819-1865), retaining possession during his lifetime. (Holly)

May 24, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board declines terms for the New York-New Brunswick

steamboat fare proposed by Edwin A. Stevens. (MB) May 24, 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) sends first formal telegraph message, "What

hath God wrought," from the Supreme Court room in the Capitol at Washington to his partner Alfred Vail (1807-1859) at the B&O’s Mount Clare station in Baltimore; wires strung along B&O right-of-way; experimental line

has been built with a $30,000 appropriation from Congress and additional money from Ithaca miller Ezra Cornell (1807-1874) and Rochester banker Hiram Sibley. (Thompson, Dilts, Trager)

May 25, 1844 Canal Commissioners begin furnishing locomotives to West Chester Railroad

to haul passenger cars between Belmont and West Chester Intersection at $15 per train; cuts one hour off time of horse cars. (CC, Moore, CCHS)

May 25, 1844 Future Lines West Purchasing Agent Henry Orville Hukill (1844-1919) born

at Steubenville, Ohio. (MB) May 27, 1844 Democratic National Convention meeting in Baltimore nominates James Knox

Polk (1795-1849), a protégé of Andrew Jackson, for Pres. to break the deadlock after Southern Democrats deny the nomination to Martin Van Buren when he refuses to support the annexation of Texas; Van Buren has a simple majority on the first ballot, but not the two-thirds required for nomination; Polk is the first “dark horse” presidential nominee; Jackson disavows Van Buren as his heir and throws his support to Polk. (Howe)

May 28, 1844 After the Democratic Convention offers the vice presidential nomination to

Van Buren’s friend Sen. Silas Wright (1795-1847), the Morse telegraph is used to convey a message from Wright declining the nomination; after a second telegraphed refusal next day, the nomination goes to George M. Dallas (1792-1864) of Pennsylvania. (Thompson)

May 28, 1844 A separate Tyler Democratic convention meeting in Baltimore nominates John

Tyler for reelection but no candidate for VP; eventually, Tyler is pressured into withdrawing his candidacy to avoid throwing the election to Henry Clay, especially since Tyler and Polk both support the annexation of Texas. (presidentialcampaigns&elections, DeRose)

May 31, 1844 Pennsylvania authorizes $288,506 in 6% notes to cover interest payments.

(PL) May 31, 1844 Pennsylvania appropriation act permits boat trucks owned by transporting

companies to pass on state railroads at a motive power toll equal to the rates paid by independent boat owners for use of the state trucks. (PL)

Spring 1844 Mount Savage Rolling Mill near Cumberland, Md., (Maryland & New York

Iron & Coal Company) rolls first U.S. iron rail (42-lb. U-rail); later in year rolls 50-lb. T-rail for the railroad between Boston and Fall River. (Swank, RRH)

June 3, 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse issues a memorial to Congress calling for the federal

government to own the telegraph and offering to sell his rights to the government; neither the Congress nor private investors show much interest.

(Thompson) June 7, 1844 New York & New Haven Railroad incorporated in Connecticut to build from

New Haven to the New York state line in the direction of New York City; promoters include Joseph E. Sheffield, Pres. of the New Haven & Northampton Company, Samuel J. Hitchcock, Pres. of the Hartford & New Haven Railroad, P. P. F. DeGrand (1787-1855), Anson G. Phelps and Elihu Townsend; financed by Morris Ketchum, Jonathan Sturgis, Sidney J. Miller, George L. Schuyler, and Robert Schuyler (1798-1855), who becomes the first Pres. (ICC, NHCorp, Kirkland, Harlow)

June 7, 1844 Middletown Railroad incorporated in Connecticut. (NHCorp) June 8, 1844 Senate rejects the treaty for annexing Texas to the U.S.; Northern Senators are

concerned about the spread of slavery. (Howe) June 11, 1844 PW&B Board tables resolution to ban all Sunday travel, including Southwark

Railroad pleasure cars to Grays Ferry but excepting mail. (MB) June 11, 1844 Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal Companies execute $192,500 mortgage to

State of Maryland. (Rdg) June 11, 1844 Columbus & Xenia Railroad opens books; insufficient response. (Marvin) June 12, 1844 Elisha Mills and William Mills of Yellow Springs offer money to complete

Little Miami Railroad between Xenia and Springfield. (MB) June 13, 1844 Little Miami Railroad Board reports they have divided the old depot site into

lots and sold the part between Lock Street & Kilgour Street, as well ans the wharf, for $20,000; have leased a new depot site on Spring Street from Front Street to Congress Street; balance of old depot site is to be used for freight; authorizes settling with contractors between Fosters Crossing and Todds Fork to take half payment in scrip, and to complete line to Xenia. (MB)

June 15, 1844 Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad begins contracting for a

double line of stagecoaches between Washington and Baltimore to bypass the high tolls on through passengers on the Washington Branch of the B&O. (B&O AR, VaBPW)

June 1844 Samuel Merrill replaces Nathan B. Palmer as Pres. of Madison & Indianapolis

Railroad. (Anderson) June 1844 State of Michigan purchases the Palmyra & Jacksonville Railroad for $22,000

as a branch of the Southern Railroad. (Parks) June 17, 1844 A second flood on the Mississippi surpasses the flood of May at St. Louis.

(Scharf) June 19, 1844 In a letter to John Kintzing Kane (1795-1858), Democratic presidential

candidate James K. Polk declares himself in favor of “reasonable” tariff protection of domestic industries to ensure his ability to carry Pennsylvania; the state is rapidly becoming a bastion of protectionism, in part from the growth of its iron industry and the increase of anthracite smelting; what Polk and Pennsylvanians consider “reasonable” prove to be two different things. (Snyder)

June 20, 1844 Richard D. Wood travels to Chambersburg to inspect the Cumberland Valley

Railroad. (Wood) June 20, 1844 State of Michigan purchases the Palmyra & Jacksonburgh Railroad and makes

it part of the Southern Railroad. (GrnBk) June 23, 1844 Mississippi River flood crests at St. Louis; the river is 3-9 miles wide; it

remains at high water until June 28 before receding. (Scharf) June 24, 1844 New Jersey Railroad directors view the line and consider a heavier track

between Jersey City and Newark. (MB) June 25, 1844 Michigan’s Central Railroad opens from Jackson to Albion.

(michiganrailroads) June 26, 1844 LIRR opens between Suffolk (Central Islip) and Medford (Yaphank), N.Y.

(Val, NYTrib) July 1, 1844 Canal Commissioners appoint Thomas A. Scott inspector of cargoes at

Columbia. July 1, 1844 W. T. Rowe & Co. begin the People’s Line of mail stages between Zanesville

and Columbus; they also operate Columbus-London-Xenia-Waynesville-Lebanon-Deerfield, where they connect with the Little Miami Railroad to Cincinnati. (Lee/Columbus)

July 2, 1844 New York & Harlem Railroad is completed from Williamsbridge to Tuckahoe

Mills, six miles from White Plains. (NYPost/Stokes) July 2, 1844 J. F. D. Lanier elected a director of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad,

replacing Jesse L. Williams; Samuel Mervill replaces Nathan B. Palmer as Pres. and Treasurer. (MB)

July 3, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad opens between Clifty and Columbus, Ind.;

wretched roads north of Columbus limit earnings. (AR, Daniels)

July 3, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad sets the salary of machinist Andrew Cathcart at $625 per year. (MB)

July 3, 1844 Treaty of Wanghiya grants U.S. the same access and trading rights in China as

Britain; however, many U.S. China merchants soon begin shifting their investments (including opium trade profits) to American railroads. (Haddad)

July 5, 1844 Robert Bell (1844-1926), future engineer and General Superintendent of

Western New York & Pennsylvania Railway, born at Newby, U.K. (PaNews) July 9, 1844 PW&B begins operating local between Baltimore and Havre-de-Grace twice a

week. (BaltAm) July 10, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board authorizes relaying the track between Jersey City

and Newark with 55-60-lb. rail. (MB) July 13, 1844 Joint Board authorizes the creating of a sinking fund for redeeming the loans

coming due in the 1860s; notes that because of increasing traffic, the Camden & Amboy Railroad need to improve terminals at Camden and South Amboy; are building new passenger and baggage cars and have an iron steamboat for New York and an iron tug for the Delaware River under construction; notes the engine house at Camden has burned in the first half of the year and needs to be replaced. (MB)

July 15, 1844 Iron steamboat Ashland, built by Betts, Harlan & Hollingsworth, railroad car

builders of Wilmington, Del., departs for New York via the outside route; the Ashland and its twin the Ocean have been built for George W. Aspinwall (1814-1854) for service on the outside route between Philadelphia and New York; after a few trips and protest from the Joint Companies, they are switched to run to Albany and Troy via the Delaware & Raritan Canal in the 1845 season. (H&H, Morrison, BethStl, Lane)

July 1844 Chief Engineer Ira Spaulding reports on survey of Bear Mountain Railroad

from Bear Valley coal mines to Dauphin, including a 1.5 mile tunnel through Big Lick Mountain. (BaltAm)

July 1844 Little Miami Railroad opens to Deerfield. (ARJ) July 1844 Monongahela Navigation Company resumes construction. (Crumrine) July 24, 1844 City of Philadelphia buys the Lemon Hill Estate, formerly owned by Henry

Pratt, from the defunct United States Bank; beginnings of Fairmount Park. (Scharf, Walther)

July 24, 1844 Little Miami Railroad Board reports it has received $23,000 in Greene County

bonds, which it has resold to Ohio Life Insurance & Trust Company; declines

proposal of Mills's but authorizes them to solicit subscriptions in New York up to $300,000 through Jan. 1, 1845 at 3% commission. (MB)

July 27, 1844 LIRR holds opening excursion to Greenport for 400-500 guests, including

Cornelius Vanderbilt, in three trains, running through in 3:35; at Greenport, a meal is served on four tables 100 feet long under a tent; the fare includes 40 baskets of champagne and a half-cask of brandy, leaving most of the excursionists so drunk that they have to be helped back onto the cars. (MB, NYTrib, ARJ, Bayles/Suffolk)

July 29, 1844 LIRR opens for revenue service to Greenport; the road is designed for through

traffic to Boston and runs straight through the unpopulated center of Long Island; the directors hope (unreasonably) to pay the operating expenses out of local traffic, leaving the Boston traffic for profit. (AR, Poor, Val, NYTrib)

July 29, 1844 Cornelius Vanderbilt has his son-in-law Daniel B. Allen (1815-1902) elected

Secretary of the Elizabethport & New York Ferry Company. (Stiles/MB) Summer 1844 John C. Trautwine surveys a rail connection between the Williamsport &

Elmira Railroad at Ralston and the Tioga Navigation Company railroad at Blossburg; grades as steep as 100 feet per mile. (ARJ)

Summer 1844 Col. A. M. Hill builds 7 coke ovens of an improved design on the Dickinson

farm in the Connellsville Field. (Albert) Aug. 1, 1844 Pennsylvania makes sixth interest payment in 5% scrip. (Worthington) Aug. 1, 1844 LIRR Board authorizes a committee to purchase boats from the New Jersey

Steam Navigation Company or to arrange with Cornelius Vanderbilt for operating boats. (MB)

Aug. 1, 1844 Exploring party led by Lt. John Charles Fremont (1813-1890) returns to

Kansas after covering 6,475 miles to Oregon and California; Fremont becomes known as “The Pathfinder,” and his report becomes a best-seller and a spur to settlement; Fremont has advanced under the patronage of his father-in-law, the powerful Democratic Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858); charismatic but incompetent in every other line of endeavor, Fremont will be publicly accused of corruption and incompetence during the Civil War and play an ignoble role in several transcontinental railroad enterprises involving the PRR in the 1860s and 1870s. (Wheelan)

Aug. 2, 1844 Canal Commissioners authorize rebuilding Lackawanna feeder dam on North

Branch Division in a permanent manner. (CC) Aug. 5, 1844 State holds a sale of the Delaware Division Canal, but there is only one bid at

par, and that for 3 shares, and the sale is adjourned. (Wood)

Aug. 5, 1844 Whigs regain a slim majority in the Indiana House with the Senate split 50-50.

(Esarey) Aug. 6, 1844 On the initiative of William E. Gladstone (1809-1898) the British Board of

Trade creates a Railway Board chaired by Board of Trade Pres. James Andrew Broun, 1st Marquess & 10th Earl of Dalhousie (1812-1860), to review all petitions to Parliament for railway charters to select those that are in the public interest and to avoid wasteful or duplicate construction; with the return of prosperity to Britain, and American investments soured, there is great pressure in all parts of the British Isles for more railways and a surge in the value of railway shares. (Lewin)

Aug. 7, 1844 Alfred Noble (1844-1914), future engineer of PRR's East River Tunnels born

at Livonia, Mich.; son of Charles and Lovina Noble. (WwasW) Aug. 8, 1844 LIRR committee reports that they have purchased the steamboats Cleopatra,

Worcester and New Haven from Cornelius Vanderbilt for $120,000 in LIRR stock and $124,000 in bonds; Vanderbilt is to rent back the Cleopatra and Worcester for six months starting on Aug. 5. (MB)

Aug. 8, 1844 New York merchant John G. Coster ( -1844) dies. (Winfield) Aug. 9, 1844 LIRR begins through service to Boston, connecting with the steamboat

Narragansett for Stonington; the next day, connects with the New Haven for Norwich; service runs alternate days connecting with the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad at Stonington, and the Norwich & Worcester Railroad at Allyns Point; through fare $4.50; total running time about 13:00. (AR, BrklnEgle)

Aug. 9, 1844 W.A. Livingston & Co. (William A. Livingston and Johnston Livingston)

announce that they have purchased the New York-Philadelphia express route of Harnden & Co.; will connect with Harnden & Co. for points east of New York and with Livingston, Wells & Pomeroy between New York and Buffalo; William A. Livingston soon sells his interest in the New York-Philadelphia line to Johnston Livingston and moves to Albany, N.Y. (PubLdgr, Stimson, Harlow)

Aug. 11, 1844 Pa. gubernatorial candidate Henry A. Muhlenberg (1782-1844) dies, and

Francis Rawn Shunk (1788-1848), a Buchanan Democrat, becomes the Democratic candidate; James Buchanan brokers a peace between Shunk and Muhlenberg’s supporters, including Simon Cameron. (Klein)

Aug. 12, 1844 William B. Foster approves John A. Roebling's plan for the suspension-cable

Pittsburgh Aqueduct. (CC)

Aug. 12, 1844 Michigan's Central Railroad opens between Albion and Marshall. (Durant, Marsh)

Aug. 13, 1844 New Jersey voters adopt a new Constitution. (Thorpe) Aug. 14, 1844 Two-day convention of delegates from 15 western counties and Richmond

begins at Lewisburg, Va., to push for state aid to complete the James River & Kanawha Company’s works from Lynchburg to the Ohio River; the Legislature rejects the petition. (Dunaway)

Aug. 1844 Peck, Clyde & Co. begin operating a Loper propeller between New York,

Baltimore and Norfolk; beginnings of the Clyde Line; formerly the Ericsson Steamboat Line between Philadelphia and Baltimore. (Morrison - verify BaltAm)

1844 Thomas Clyde establishes the Clyde Line of coastal steamers operating out of

Philadelphia. (theshipslist - check PubLdgr - NO - see 1842) Aug. 1844 Drought interferes with the operation of the Union Canal of Pennsylvania.

(AR) Aug. 1844 William H. Clement and associates lay out the town of Morrow, Ohio, at

Todds Fork on the Little Miami River; Clement builds his country house, “Oak Hill,” south of town. (White)

Aug. 20, 1844 Pres. John Tyler withdraws from the upcoming presidential election, sinking

Pa. Gov. David R. Porter’s hopes for national office. (Klein) Aug. 21, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Board authorizes completion of the line

between Columbus and Edinburg. (MB) Sep. 4, 1844 B&O cuts the round trip fare on its Washington Branch to $2.50 to meet

stagecoach competition. (AR) Sep. 9, 1844 Joint Companies Executive Committee considers a proposal from Erskine

Hazard (1789-1865) of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company for an outlet lock connection between the Delaware & Raritan Canal feeder and the Delaware Division Canal; authorizes contracting for an iron tugboat for next spring. (MB)

Sep. 10, 1844 PW&B Board authorizes laying 100 tons of new iron T-rail between

Philadelphia and Wilmington, as unable to sell it; authorizes contract for building Wilmington car house; cuts freight rate between Wilmington and Baltimore to 25 cents per cwt. (MB)

Sep. 1844 New, fast LIRR 4-4-0 built by Hinckley tested on a Long Island train on the

Boston & Worcester Railroad. (BaltAm) Sep. 1844 Chief Engineer Alexander C. Twining (1801-1884) begins surveys for the

New York & New Haven Railroad. (AR) Sep. 1844 Chapel dedicated at Villanova College west of Philadelphia. (Ashmead) Sep. 1844 Mohawk & Hudson Railroad opens a new route bypassing the inclined plane

at Albany. (Harlow) Sep. 16, 1844 Daniel Drew’s partner Nelson Robinson begins purchasing control of the

Mohawk & Hudson Railroad. (Stiles) Sep. 19, 1844 Government surveyors under William A. Burt (1792- ) discover the hematite

ore deposits of the Marquette Iron Range on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; first of the incredibly rich Great Lakes iron ore deposits to be discovered. (Walker)

Sep. 24, 1844 Dr. Peter Shoenberger, who has purchased the interest of David Stewart in the

Cambria Furnace, forms a partnership to operate it with George S. King, John K. Shryock and William L. Shryock; the firm owns 10,300 acres of land; the Shryocks sell their interest to King and Shoenberger in Feb. 1846. (Storey)

Sep. 26, 1844 Good Intent Mail Line, by railroad to Chambersburg with a 6-passenger coach

to Pittsburgh, moves its Philadelphia terminus from the corner of 8th & Market Streets to the warehouse of J. Borbridge at 272 Market, 3 doors west of 8th Street. (PubLdgr)

Oct. 7, 1844 George Crane elected Pres. of the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad, replacing J. B.

Macy. (Waggoner) Oct. 8, 1844 John R. Thomson (1800-1862), who had resigned as Secretary of Joint Board,

is defeated in his bid to become Democratic Governor of New Jersey, as he has proved unpalatable to the Van Buren faction; Whigs elect Gov. Charles C. Stratton ( - ) and take both houses of the Legislature; [was the the first to be elected under the new Constitution]. (Lane)

Oct. 8, 1844 Majority of Pennsylvania voters approve of sale of Public Works in

referendum. 149,748 to 124,598; Democrats elect Francis Rawn Shunk (1788-1848) Governor and retain both houses; the anti-immigrant Native American Party carries Philadelphia County, but is unable to drain votes from the Democrats in the interior, where immigrants are less of an issue. (who cc?); despite pre-election arrangements, Shunk proceeds to proscribe Improvement Democrats in distributing patronage; Simon Cameron the leading anti-Buchanan/Shunk Democrat, begins moving towards the Northern “Conscience” Whigs, including joining their opposition to slavery. (Snyder,

Bradley) Oct. 8, 1844 PW&B Board makes new contract for horse pulling in Baltimore with James

Murray. (MB) Oct. 8, 1844 Whigs sweep both houses of Ohio Legislature and elect Mordecai Bartley

(1783-1870), the father of incumbent Thomas Welles Bartley, governor, defeating Democrat David Tod (1805-1868); the Whig victory in Ohio ends the political career of Democratic State Auditor John Brough. (Smiths, Shade, Anderson, Sobel)

Oct. 1844 Morris Canal & Banking Company sold on foreclosure of the First Mortgage;

reorganized as the “Morris Canal & Banking Company of 1844.” (CLJones) Oct. 18, 1844 Joint Companies Executive Committee authorizes Edwin A. Stevens to

contract for the Walnut Street Wharf in Philadelphia; authorizes Robert L. Stevens to rebuild the steamboat Victory according to his design. (MB)

Oct. 18, 1844 Public meeting of businessmen at the Tabernacle in New York City to raise $6

million for the New York & Erie Railroad; marks the successful revival of the project, dormant since 1842. (Mott)

Oct. 18, 1844 First sale of lots at Kokomo, Ind. (Blanchard/Howard) Oct. 23, 1844 Horatio Allen resigns as Pres. and several directors resign from the New York

& Erie Railroad Board; Eleazar Lord elected Pres. for the third time. (Mott) Oct. 23, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad authorizes a lower tariff on bulk shipments

of corn. (MB) Oct. 24, 1844 J. F. D. Lanier reports to the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Board that in

order to raise capital to complete the line they must authorize borrowing money and pay a person to guarantee the notes at a rate of 2%, the loan to be secured by a mortgage. (MB)

Oct. 25, 1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad requests the Baldwin Locomotive Works to

build an efficient locomotive, to keep it in repair, and recommend a mechanic to come work for the company. (MB)

Oct. 26, 1844 New York & Harlem Railroad opens from Fordham to White Plains with

special excursion. (NYPost, ARJ) Oct. 26, 1844 Baltimore & Rappahannock Steam Packet Company votes to build a new boat

to replace the aging and obsolete Rappahannock. (Holly) Nov. 3, 1844 Monongahela Navigation Company opens locks and dams Nos. 3 & 4,

extending navigation 32 miles to Brownsville on the National Road; locks are 190 x 50 feet for steamboats; this diverts much of the traffic from that portion of the National Road lying west of Brownsville, but renders the Cumberland-Brownsville portion even more prosperous. (Poor, Crumrine - Crumrine also has 11/13)

Nov. 4, 1844 Democrat Silas Wright (1795-1847), a leader of the radical or “Barnburner”

faction elected Gov. of New York, defeating Whig Millard Fillmore, largely on the canal debt issue; however, the Legislature is now equally split between conservative (“Hunker”) Democrats and radicals (“Barnburners”); the Hunker faction wins half the state offices, including control of the Canal Fund. (Larkin, Shaw)

Nov. 5, 1844 Baltimore & Philadelphia Steam Boat Company begins a new steamboat line

between Philadelphia and Baltimore, using the Portsmouth on the Delaware River, with horse-drawn packets through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and the Osiris and Maryland on Chesapeake Bay; offer $1.50 fare, vs. $4.00 on PW&B or NC&F route. (PubLdgr)

Nov. 11, 1844 Monongahela Navigation Company opens high-capacity slackwater navigation

for steamboats between Pittsburgh and Brownsville, Pa.; with portage via National Road between Brownsville and Cumberland, forms quick route to the West via B&O and diverts traffic from Main Line; also gives coal mines of Mon Valley their first reliable outlet downstream, accelerating industrialization of the Mon Valley and Pittsburgh. (Poor has 11/3, reported in BaltAm of 11/12!)

Nov. 12, 1844 PW&B Board approves contract to haul coal and iron of Maryland & New

York Coal & Iron Company arriving in Baltimore on B&O on its tracks on Fleet Street. (MB)

Nov. 14, 1844 Group of travelers who have just arrived in Pittsburgh via B&O and new

steam packet Consul on Monongahela Navigation place complimentary notice in newspapers; note 20 stagecoaches plying between Cumberland and Brownsville on National Road; the sidewheelers Louis McLane and Consul are the first two passenger boats put on to run in connecting with the stage coach portage to the B&O. (BaltAm, Crumrine)

Nov. 1844 Baldwin completes 0-6-0 Columbus (c/n 211) for Madison & Indianapolis

Railroad. (Lovell) Nov. 16, 1844 First Cumberland coal dispatched over newly completed Mount Savage

Railroad of the Maryland & New York Iron & Coal Company to Baltimore via B&O; connection is at Viaduct Jct. west of Cumberland. (BaltAm, B&O Val)

Nov. 23, 1844 Charles Delos Law (1844-1902), future Lines West officer, born at

Philadelphia. (VllyUpprMaumee - may have been misprint for 1834??) Nov. 26, 1844 Cornelius Vanderbilt elected a director of LIRR by virtue of the securities

issued to him for his steamboats. (MB) Nov. 27, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board resolves to run no Sunday trains except the mail

train and to continue to petition the Post Office Dept. to abolish Sunday mails. (MB)

Nov. 28, 1844 Since Feb. 1, 1844 about $500,000 of Pennsylvania state bonds sold by

foreign to domestic investors. (NilesReg) Nov. 1844 Purchasers of Morris Canal elect Daniel Tyler, Pres. of Norwich & Worcester

Railroad, as Pres. (BaltAm) Nov. 30, 1844 Mount Carbon & Port Carbon Railroad opens, linking the Philadelphia &

Reading Railroad at Mount Carbon with the Mill Creek & Mine Hill Railroad and Schuylkill Valley Railroad at Port Carbon; controlled by the Reading, giving it connections to the last isolated coal laterals in the Schuylkill Coal Field. (Heydinger/RRH 106)

Fall 1844 Delegates from 11 counties in northwestern Virginia meet at Clarksburg to

push for the extension of the B&O to Pakersburg. (Dilts) Dec. 1, 1844 New York & Harlem Railroad opened to White Plains. (Poor, RRH - see 6/1,

10/26) Dec. 2, 1844 David C. Wood calls on his younger half-brother Richard D Wood seeking to

borrow money for his Millville Furnace; E. T. Randolph proposes to form a partnership with Richard D. Wood to operate the furnace. (Wood)

Dec. 3, 1844 LIRR opens tunnel under lower end of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn; west

portal is between Hicks Street & Columbia Street, and east portal is between Boerum Place & Court Street; permits locomotives to descend hill to South Ferry; double track tunnel is a stone and brick arch built by the cut-and-cover method; runs 50 excursion trips back and forth with a train with a locomotive at each end. (MB, BrklnEgle, BHRA)

Dec. 3, 1844 Outgoing Democratic Gov. Thomas W. Bartley (1812-1885) in his only

annual message opposes a state bank as a sellout to the “monied interest”; in his inaugural message the same day, his father, incoming Whig Gov. Mordecai Bartley (1783-1870) calls for a free banking system. (Huntington, Sobel)

Dec. 3, 1844 Peoria, Ill., incorporated as a town. (PL) Dec. 4, 1844 Cumberland Valley bridge over Susquehanna River, except for the four

eastern spans, destroyed by fire from locomotive sparks; not replaced until 1846. (BaltAm, Wilson)

Dec. 5, 1844 James Knox Polk elected Pres. over Henry Clay by 170 electoral votes to 105;

Clay has flip-flopped on the crucial issue of Texas annexation, which was supported by the South and opposed by the North; Polk’s managers had campaigned in Pennsylvania in favor of “reasonable” protection, while assuring southerners that Polk intends to cut the Tariff of 1842; as a result, Polk narrowly carries Pennsylvania; abolitionist third party candidate James G. Birney wins enough votes to cost Clay New York and Michigan, and thus the presidency; Polk cuts Martin Van Buren’s followers out of the federal patronage, splitting the New York party into “Hunkers,” who are loyal to Polk through “hunkering” after office, and the Van Buren faction or “Barnburners”; the Democrats recapture the Senate from the Whigs to control both houses of Congress; some historians now believe that Clay’s election would have likely avoided both the Mexican and Civil Wars. (Wheelan, Howe, wiki)

Dec. 5, 1844 Erie Canal Company completes former Beaver Division Canal between

French Creek Feeder and Erie; first two boats arrive in Erie, the packet Queen of the West with passengers and the R.S. Reed with 27 tons of Mercer County coal; it finds no ready market at Erie and is sold at $2 a ton. (HistErieCo, McKnight)

Dec. 9, 1844 Canal Commissioners authorize drawback of 27 cents per ton on freight from

Cumberland Valley Railroad to compensate for need to cart it over the Harrisburg road bridge. (CC)

Dec. 9, 1844 New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company denies residents of Jersey

City's request for lower one-trip ferry fares but say are studying possibility of commutation tickets. (HC)

Dec. 9, 1844 Hartford & New Haven Railroad opens to Springfield, Mass., creating another

steamboat-railroad route between New York and Boston and greatly increasing its revenue. (NHCorp, Stiles)

Dec. 10, 1844 PW&B Board grants Isaac R. Trimble's request for a raise from $1,500 to

$2,000 per year as more in line with Chief Engineer's salaries on other roads. (MB)

Dec. 14, 1844 Mayor and City Council of New York orders the New York & Harlem

Railroad to discontinue the use of steam locomotives south of 32nd Street by Aug. 1, 1845. (Valentine)

Dec. 17, 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse issues a second appeal to Congress calling for the federal

government to own the telegraph and offering to sell his rights to the government; however, Congress refuses to make appropriations, and the U.S.

telegraph system is then built by private companies. (Thompson) Dec. 18, 1844 Gov. David R. Porter approves turning over the Beaver Division Canal to the

Erie Canal Company. (PaArch) Dec. 18, 1844 New Jersey Railroad Board authorizes cancelling George L. Schuyler’s lease

of the Liberty Street, N.Y., pier. (MB) Dec. 21, 1844 Richard D. Wood meets with Pres. John Tucker and George W. Edwards, the

chief propagandist for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad to investigate its affairs and decide if he, Wood, should accept an offer to be a director of the rival Schuylkill Navigation Company and to offer a truce between the canal and railroad. (Wood)

Dec. 26, 1844 PW&B begins running second class coach on morning mail train with $2.50

fare. (BaltAm) Dec. 26, 1844 Village of Kalamazoo, Mich., platted. (Durant) Dec. 28, 1844 M.B. Lowry arrives at Beaver Division with Gov. David R. Porter's order to

turn over Beaver Division to Erie Canal Company; law bypasses Canal Commissioners who feel that company only forced one or two boats through the canal for show and is not really finished; law requires no inspection of work.

Dec. 30, 1844 Public meeting held in the court house on Public Square in Cleveland in

support of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad; speakers include James Farmer of Salineville and A. G. Catlett and D. T. Lawson of Wellsville; plan is a railroad to Wellsville with a steamboat connection to Pittsburgh. (McCord)

Dec. 30, 1844 Montour Iron Company incorporated under the general laws of Pennsylvania

to establish a rail-rolling mill at Danville. (PaStDept) 1844 LIRR has developed a traffic supplying charcoal to New York; charcoal had

long come from the New Jersey Pine Barrens by water; LIRR is also to bring ice from Lake Ronkonkoma. (AR)

1844 Camden & Amboy Railroad builds a new passenger boat and downgrades the

Independence to towing; also a new boat, 240 x 60, to replace the Swan as a freight boat between New York and South Amboy. (AR/ARJ)

1844 Camden & Amboy Railroad builds new brick engine houses at New

Brunswick and Camden, and a new brick freight house at Camden. (AR/ARJ) 1844 (End of season ?) Lykens Valley Railroad abandoned because of deteriorated

strap-rail track. 1844 PW&B begins relaying portion of line between Philadelphia and Wilmington

with T-rail. (AR) 1844 PW&B completes car house capable of holding all passenger cars at

Wilmington. (AR) 1844 PW&B cuts running time from 7:00 to 6:00. (AR) 1844 John Dougherty resigns as editor of Hollidaysburg Democratic Standard;

suffers financial reverses and is forced to sell most of his boat trucks and other equipment; dies in Pittsburgh in 1886.

1844 Eastbound traffic to tide on the Erie Canal first tops 1 million tons. (Sweet) 1844 Ohio cuts non-engineering salaries on Public Works by one-third. 1844 Little Miami Railroad opens to Todds Fork (Morrow); second locomotive and

train placed in service. (Marvin, Shell has by 11/44 - prob. in Nov.) 1844 James Gowdy donates a lot and building on South Detroit Street between 2nd

& 3rd Streets in Xenia for use as an “uptown” station on the line to Springfield. (Shell)

1844 Little Miami Railroad sells terminal site on Front Street in Cincinnati to pay

creditors and restore confidence in company; rents nearby lots instead. 1844 Ohio Legislative resolution asks the New York Legislature to remove the ban

on the Utica & Schenectady Railroad from carrying freight; by forcing traffic onto the Erie Canal, it is shut down from early fall to late spring, causing goods to back up in the West, where speculators who have sufficient funds are the only ones who can afford to store it over the winter. (Gephart - verify PL)

1844 Madison & Indianapolis Railroad completed between Elizabethtown and

Columbus, Ind. (7 mi.) 1844 Track of Michigan’s Central Railroad leading from Michigan & Woodward

Avenue to the wharf at the Detroit River is abandoned because it is little used. (michiganrailroads)

1844 Jesse Starr of Camden builds the sidewheel towboat Camden for the Delaware

& Raritan Canal Company. (Morrison - BordHS says b. by Isaac Dripps using the boiler and engine of the old Philadelphia)

1844 Canal Commissioners begin granting rebates on coal shipped on the Delaware

Division to Bristol to meet the competition of the Morris Canal. (CLJones) 1844 Ario Pardee & Co. contracts to operate all the works of the Hazleton Coal

Company on a royalty basis; the firm’s lease continues beyond Pardee’s death in 1892, after the Lehigh Valley Railroad has absorbed the Hazleton company. (Bradsby)

1844 Combined traffic on the Schuylkill Canal and Philadelphia & Reading

Railroad first exceeds 1 million tons, of which over 80% is coal. (AR) 1844 Coal tonnage of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad first exceeds that of the

parallel Schuylkill Canal; explodes the conventional wisdom that a railroad cannot compete with a canal for heavy, low-value freight and forces the Schuylkill Navigation Company to begin an expensive enlargement program that eventually cannot be paid for out of earnings. (Broehl, )

1844 Reading completes a double track between Mount Carbon and the wharves at

Port Richmond. (AR) 1844 George E. Pomeroy sells his interest in the express business of Pomeroy & Co.

to his brother Thaddeus, and it is reorganized as Livingston, Wells & Pomeroy; Thaddeus Pomeroy retires within a year and the New York-Buffalo line becomes Livingston, Wells & Co. (Stimson, Harlow)

1844 Mechanics Thomas Reaney and Jacob G. Neafie form the Pennsylvania Steam

Engine & Boiler Works at Philadelphia; Reaney, Neafie & Co. acquire the rights from Capt. R. F. Loper to manufacture his patented curved propeller. (Tyler)

1844 John McManus (1808-1875), formerly a contractor on the Morris Canal and

the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, where he met and married Caroline Seyfert, joins his father-in-law Simon Seyfert (1786-1848) in the management of the Reading Iron Works as Seyfert & McManus; McManus will be a partner in many of Tom Scott’s railroad ventures in the 1860s and 1870s. (Montgomery)

1844 Ashland Iron Works founded at Cockeysville, Md., on the Baltimore &

Susquehanna Railroad by Philip Albright Small (1791-1875), Samuel Small (1799-1885), and Christian Geiger. (Gunnarsson)

1844 Georges Creek Coal & Iron Company leases its property to German-born

engineer Christian E. Detmold (1810-1887) for 7 years; he rebuilds the works. (Harvey)

1844 Georges Creek Coal & Iron Company begins making iron with charcoal at

Lonaconing, Md., in the Cumberland Coal Field; had been crippled since 1839

by the failure of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to reach Cumberland. (Pam) 1844 New York lawyer Joseph K. Edgerton (1818-1893), a native of Vermont,

settles in Fort Wayne, Ind., as the representative of eastern land speculators and forms a law partnership with ex-Gov. Samuel Bigger (1802-1846); he will become a railroad promoter and official, numbered among the founders of the PFW&C and the GR&I. (Poinsatte, VllyUpprMaumee)

1844 Former China merchant William S. Wetmore (1801-1862) forms Wetmore &

Cryder in New York, with John Cryder (1796-1868), the brother of his first wife. (wiki)